Despite challenges, the Islamic Republic is here to stay with its military and social capacity to defend itself from foreign aggression and domestic intervention.
‘Vision 2030’ is a Janus-faced transformational program. It is poised to mildly or hardly shake up the Middle East, whether it fails or succeeds.
The signing of the nuclear deal was driven by some immediate interests of Iran as well as the US, leaving deep strategic and political differences unaddressed.
Sectarian violence has vitiated regional politics and foreign policies along sectarian lines. The fight between the Shi’ite and Sunni crescents is likely to continue.
The IS can no longer be viewed as a passing phenomenon and may expand in the future – unless it is coerced into total submission or at least denied a footprint in Iraq.
The Saudis will continue to perceive the Houthis as powerful political and military opponents and feel the need to keep them at bay
The IS is a reality that it is here to stay, and it looks to have set for gradual expansion of its territorial boundaries to redraw the political map of the Middle East.
R2P contains glaring theoretical drawbacks and its practice by Western powers creates the scope for a mix up of humanitarian concerns with their strategic interests.
The Syrian civil war has shaken up the political and strategic environment of the Middle East region, with all outcomes likely to bring political and economic uncertainties.
The recent interim agreement between Iran and the P5+1 raises interesting implications for regional peace and stability in the Middle East, particularly in relation to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Before you download your free e-book, please consider donating to support open access publishing.
E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. Your donations allow us to invest in new open access titles and pay our bandwidth bills to ensure we keep our existing titles free to view. Any amount, in any currency, is appreciated. Many thanks!
Donations are voluntary and not required to download the e-book - your link to download is below.
